Meta to Become the Biggest Nuclear Buyer Among Hyperscalers

Bloomberg Tech kicks off with Meta locking in nuclear power for its data centers, Minimax’s big Hong Kong debut, and Snowflake’s move to buy Observe, plus an Intel check-in from Washington; let’s start with the power story and get the details.

Meta signed three distinct agreements supporting up to 6.6 gigawatts of nuclear, a mix of keeping current plants alive and backing future capacity, which helps meet surging demand while sticking to a low‑carbon path.

Meta isn’t a hyperscaler, so this is for its own AI-heavy data centers; where does this fit into its broader energy play?

Some of this power will serve the Prometheus cluster in Ohio with deals concentrated in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and Meta’s also firing up natural gas for Hyperion, so nuclear is a big piece but not the only one.

Is this also a hedge against older US nuclear assets going offline?

Yes; Meta started digging in two Decembers ago, heard plants needed capital to avoid shutdowns, and moved to future‑proof supply.

How tight is power for AI right now?

It’s the choke point; new nuclear won’t meaningfully generate until around 2030 to 2032, so near‑term fill is likely natural gas, and behind the upbeat public tone there’s real anxiety about securing wattage as we now track utilities and even build bottlenecks like concrete delays that can push revenue.

Minimax just doubled on debut in Hong Kong; let’s hear how they plan to compete globally.

We’ve run lean with about 500 million dollars spent, and we’re focused on performance and product experience rather than a price race; we’ll use whatever chips deliver the best return, our API gross margin tops 65 percent, and we see collaboration with big platforms alongside competition.

China’s so‑called AI Tigers or Dragons—DeepSeek, Minimax, GPU and others—are pushing lower‑cost, fast‑to‑deploy models, grabbing investor demand in Hong Kong and finding traction in cost‑sensitive markets like parts of Africa while US models aren’t allowed in China.

Turning to XAI’s Grok, the image tool is under fire; what did the data show?

Working with a researcher, we found that over a 24‑hour window X published around 6,700 sexualized or non‑consensual images an hour generated via Grok—massive versus roughly 80 across the top deepfake sites combined—and the tight link between Grok and X made posting trivial; Musk warned of consequences for illegal content, access has since been limited, and X and XAI didn’t comment.

Snowflake’s buying Observe; why now, and why this fit?

Observability keeps apps, sites, and AI agents healthy, and because Observe runs on Snowflake it can pinpoint issues far faster and at lower cost; think Topgolf going from guessing to fixing a bad bay in seconds and keeping guests happy as we bring this to thousands of customers.

We’re building an end‑to‑end data platform with tight integrations and selective M&A, cost matters as agents emit huge telemetry, and we see agents automating the drudge work while people decide and codify fixes; our 2026 goal is broad adoption of Snowflake Intelligence across customers.

On media, Netflix’s bid stirred debate and the stock has slid; where’s sentiment now?

Shares have dropped since the deal questions surfaced, and while the multiple isn’t extreme versus history, it’s not cheap enough to spark broad enthusiasm.

Netflix wants the streaming and studio assets while Paramount bids for everything and values cable networks at zero; what’s really at stake, and what’s next?

Those networks aren’t worth zero, though debt raises risk, and January twenty‑first is the key tender date for Paramount, which can extend or raise; strategically Paramount gains more than Netflix, and fears of overpaying hit a name already facing slower growth and lower justified multiples.

Intel visited the White House to tout progress; what’s the true return and outlook?

Taxpayers hold about eleven billion dollars of Intel stock, roughly double from the investment but not tens of billions, and the visit underscores a steadier balance sheet while real validation still depends on the new chips performing.

That’s a wrap on a packed week from CES to nonstop AI headlines; catch the full show and interviews on the podcast, and have a great Friday.